Sandy's Grim Toll Rises in Battered East

A Wall Street Journal Roundup

Updated Nov. 1, 2012 6:32 p.m. ET

The number of deaths in the U.S. attributed to Sandy rose to at least 90, nearly half in New York City, as millions of people in the Northeast went another day without power and continued to confront gas-station lines and patchy public transit.

More bodies were being found as police and firefighters continued "going block-by-block and door-to-door in the areas devastated by the hurricane," said New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
.

Search crews Thursday discovered the bodies of two young boys from the Staten Island borough of New York City who were swept from their mother's arms by Sandy's rising flood waters Monday, police said.

The grim discoveries came as millions of households and businesses remained without power, and authorities warned it could take a week or more to restore service for many. Those efforts got a boost from Washington on Thursday. U.S. Air Force cargo planes were flying electrical company bucket trucks and crews from Southern California to New York to speed hurricane relief efforts, defense officials said.

ENLARGE

Commuters wait in line to board buses to Manhattan outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Nov. 1.
European Pressphoto Agency

A transportation network hobbled by the storm snapped back to limited life in time for the Thursday morning rush, with crowded commuter trains, partial subway service and long lines at bus and automobile crossings into Manhattan. Carrie Melago has details on Lunch Break.

The Energy Department said that utilities restored power Thursday to about 1.4 million customers since Wednesday afternoon, but more than 4.6 million customers were still without electricity throughout the region. In hard-hit New Jersey, 1.8 million customers, or 45%, couldn't turn on the lights Thursday. That was down from 51% the day before.

New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie
said Thursday afternoon that power will likely be restored to the state sooner than eight to 10 days, the previous estimate from utility companies.

Mr. Christie said states around the country were sending thousands of utility workers to New Jersey to help repair the state's electrical grid. The influx of workers is so large, Mr. Christie said, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to build temporary housing facilities for them at Fort Monmouth.

A lack of electricity is the main reason residents are having trouble finding gasoline, Mr. Christie said at a news conference in the flood-damaged town of Moonachie, N.J.

"Many gas stations have gas but can't pump," he said. "I don't think you're going to see a gas shortage once the power comes back on."

WSJ reporters continue to capture scenes from around the East Coast as areas affected by superstorm Sandy begin to recover. Via #WorldStream.

Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker urged residents without power to seek shelter or take precaution when using generators after two women, 18 and 19 years of old, died of carbon monoxide poisoning from using a portable generator. "We mourn their loss. It was tragic and entirely preventable," he said.

In New York,
Consolidated Edison
Inc.
said most customers should have power restored by the weekend of Nov. 10, although many customers in New York City can expect to have their power back on by this weekend. For others, it could take an additional week or more, the utility said.

FEMA will pay the full cost of efforts to restore emergency power and provide emergency public transportation in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey through the end of next week, area lawmakers said. The agency usually pays 75% of costs, but can increase that percentage after a severe disaster.

The Energy Department said Connecticut and New York both had 17% of customers without power Thursday, compared with 25% and 21%, respectively, on Wednesday. In West Virginia, 15% of customers still lacked power Thursday, compared with 21% on Wednesday. Pennsylvania outages were down to 8% of customers from 12%.

Get real-time updates on flooding, forecasts, closures and more as Sandy closes in on the U.S. East Coast. Go to the Live Stream..

Meanwhile, floodwaters receded in coastal communities from southern New Jersey to eastern Connecticut. In Hoboken, N.J., a city of about 50,000 across the Hudson River from Manhattan, residents trapped in their homes because of waist-high contaminated water ventured out on Thursday for the first time. The water receded dramatically overnight leaving streets that had been flooded nearly dry.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said Thursday that restoring power to Hoboken was a top priority and that President
Barack Obama
and Gov. Christie were working together to make that happen.

Many states were still trying to assess the toll from Sandy on Thursday. Until Wednesday, the majority of reported deaths were from storm-related car accidents and falling trees, including a couple from Mendham Township, N.J., who died Monday night when a tree crushed them when they got out of their vehicle. Their 11- and 14-year-old children remained inside and were uninjured.

Millions were still without power and many coastal towns struggled to dig out from the debris and damage Wednesday after megastorm Sandy's march of destruction claimed at least 55 lives in the U.S. in one of the largest storms ever to strike the East Coast. Aaron Rutkoff has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.

But on Thursday, search crews discovered the bodies of two Staten Island boys who had apparently been swept from their mother's arms by rising flood waters, police said. Glenda Moore positively identified the bodies of her sons, 4-year-old Connor and 2-year-old Brendan, after they were found in a marshy area Thursday morning following a frantic, three-day search, police said.

In New Jersey, the cleanup of miles of shorefront ripped apart by Sandy was just beginning and hundreds of thousands of commuters braved clogged highways and quarter-mile lines at gas stations. Atlantic City's casinos remained closed. Gov. Christie postponed Halloween until Monday, saying trick-or-treating wasn't safe in towns with flooded and darkened streets, fallen trees and downed power lines.

GAS LINES: People across the region have been waiting to buy fuel for generators. Many gas stations are closed because they have no power. Above, the scene at a New Jersey Turnpike service area near Woodbridge.
Mel Evans/Associated Press

In Manhattan Thursday morning, it was slow going as commuters attempted to return to business as usual, on a hobbled transportation system and amid high-occupancy rules requiring three or more passengers in vehicles entering the city.

In Brooklyn, where limited bus service has begun, thousands of people lined up at the Barclays Center to get on Manhattan-bound buses, many for their first day back at work this week.

Many trying to get from Brooklyn near the new Barclay Center into Manhattan were waiting in long lines for buses on Thursday morning - another consequence of superstorm Sandy. Video by WSJ's Kate Linebaugh and Jeff Bush via #WorldStream.

See Related Video on #WorldStream

However, the throngs awaiting transportation spurred some residents to opt instead for their own steam.
Teresa Barrow
decided to walk on her first day back since Sandy hit. Ms. Barrow, 38 years old, has been working from home at her job as an information-technology specialist in Manhattan.

"I'd rather walk than deal with this," she said as she headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge. "The lines are wrapped around. It is going to take two hours just to get in."

Meanwhile, New York City said it is all systems go for Sunday's marathon. Race organizers were still trying to assess how widespread damage from Sandy might affect plans, including getting runners into the city and transporting them to the start line on Staten Island.

"I think some people said you shouldn't run the marathon," Mayor Bloomberg said at a news briefing. "There's an awful lot of small businesses that depend on these people. We have to have an economy. There's lots of people that have come here. It's a great event for New York, and I think for those who were lost, you've got to believe they would want us to have an economy and have a city go on for those that they left behind."

Meanwhile, celebrities pitched in to help with relief efforts.
Bruce Springsteen
and Jon Bon Jovi, both from hard-hit New Jersey, will perform at a benefit concert for superstorm Sandy victims. Billy Joel of New York's Long Island, also badly damaged by the storm, is also scheduled to appear at the concert Friday. NBC's telecast will benefit the American Red Cross. Other performers include
Christina Aguilera,
Sting
and Jimmy Fallon.

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